MORE ABOUT ROBERT W CABELL

"Its an oddball premise, a show about a 'Global Glamour Girl' beauty pageant in the Mid-America of Paris, Ohio, for your ladies of, shall we say, girth. . .You might think of "Pretty Faces" as a Size XXL 'Chorus Line."  When Patricia (Heather Ann Stokes) makes every man in the audience feel guilty with her song "Too Plump for Prom Night": . . . Kathleen Rosamond Kelly as Bobby-Joy will stop the show as a fed-clad cheerleader, baton in hand singing, stomping: "I'm Twirlin' for Jesus." The only funnier things is Paulette, the goody-goody opera student (Margaret Dyer) singing into the telephone to a pervert: "Don't Talk Dirty 'Cause You're Turning Me On."

"Cabell's 'Pretty Faces," now brightening the Actors Outlet on West 28th Street, concerns the contestants in a beauty pageant for hefty women. ". . . . Cabell keeps the tunes short 'n''bouncy, winning us over with the amusing "Too Plump for Prom Night,"  the recurring "Sleep Walkers Lament" and Bobby-Joys star-spangled baton twirling, "Song For Jesus

"Pretty Faces" provides considerable entertainment. . . Several stories are woven throughout the rehearsal period and pageant night, with almost everybody getting at least one solo and joining a cleaver series of concerted numbers detailing everyone's sleepless. Cabell book is efficiently crated, with enough laughs and human interest details to keep the story perking 

"Pretty Faces starts out looking like a mistake and ends up surprisingly entertaining.  Ambitiously dedicated 'to change the concept of beauty . .  what counts is the heart and the min', this spunky mini-musical is to be commended for avoiding the path of obvious fat jokes in the beauty pageant for "the large and lovely" competing for Miss Global Glamour Girl. . . there is a nourishing amount of good songs and commentaries for the calorie conscious as well"

"From the lyrical fantasy 'Furs, Fortune, Fame, Glamor' to the randy girl talk of 'How Do You Like Your Men' and the tongue-in-cheek 'Song for Jesus' (I'm twirling for Jesus," sings Bobby-Joy), spirits run high and the stage rocks with generously endowed talent.  Take "Too Plump For Prom Night." The ballad becomes a Fifties sha-boom as the five other contestants rockstep into the harmonizing Plumpettes, back their bluesy lead singer  (Heather A Stokes). . . .Comedy swoops in from the blue in "Solo for the Telephone" when the classy Paulette (Margaret Dyer) is so turned on by an obscene phone call that she strips into black garter belt and red laced panties as she hits high C . . .and Pleasure, the girl Daddy ignored ("Daddy Doesn't Care") does a Cinderella turn. . .Amy Jo Phillips . . . hits the high road in "Purple Hearted Soldiers," a full-throated lament for all those wounded in the battle of love."

"Pretty Faces" is referred to as 'the large and lovely musical,' and while its present off-Broadway status can accommodate only a relatively small-scale production, it is a relatively lovely production about women who are not exactly classic fashion-model material  The show has several appealing musical numbers, ranging for the hysterically funny "Too Plump For Prom Night" to one contestant's funny talent selection "Song For Jesus," to the moving song sung by the black contestant (and wouldn't you know she'd be the one to win the talent competition), "Purple Hearted Soldiers."

...Pretty Faces Is A Pretty Show" . . . Robert W. Cabell is both the author and composer.  His music is snappy, familiar, and the lyrics are clever.  Outstand is the "Solo For The Telephone". . . The girls sing Soliloquies throughout entitled "42-32-42" and the melody goes with you after the curtain goes down.  Pretty Faces is a cute musical, a good Off Broadway performance and offers audiences a fun night.

 "The main theme permeating this show is that regardless of her size, a woman can still have the same dreams as her more svelte sister.  Whatever their story, one really feels for these women whose body shape and size do not conform to the societal norm.. . .  Move over, Miss America, here come the women of the Miss Global Glamour Girl Beauty Pageant." 

 "PRETTY FACES, a new musical by Robert W. Cabell, concerns itself in a novel and potentially diverting way with the world of beauty contests.  The twist is that these contestants are "large and lovely,". . . The subject matter is dealt with a direct and appealing forthright way.  The performers all shine and the production was directed with energy and speed". . . novel entertainment, maybe eve a "Nunsense" waiting to be born .

 "PRETTY FACES, the "Large & Lovely" Musical expands the boundary of what is beautiful. . . The show boast 26 new songs, great singing, awesome harmony and well drilled dancing.